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Cricket Players'If he doesn't have place in XI, no point having him in squad': Gambhir explains why he wouldn't take Karthik to T20 WC
Gautam Gambhir spoke in detail about Dinesh Karthik, his batting position, and his potential playing XI chances once the likes of KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav return to the side.
Team India had returned to winning ways in the third T20I of the five-match series against South Africa on Tuesday, beating the Proteas by 48 runs in Vizag. After posting 179/6 on the board, the Indian team folded the visitors on 131 with Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal taking seven wickets between them. With the bat, openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan slammed half-centuries and following a middle-order collapse, Hardik Pandya ensured a strong finish with an unbeaten 31 off 21 deliveries.
In the second T20I, India had endured a four-wicket defeat when the side had faced a disappointing outing in the middle-order. One of the batting order decisions from the Indian team in the game drew significant criticism – that of promoting Axar Patel over Dinesh Karthik. Many former cricketers expressed their disagreement with the decision and former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir was one of them. In fact, he also said that if India's plan is to reserve Karthik only for the final three overs, it could be tough for him to be included in the T20 World Cup squad.
“Too early to say. T20 World Cup is far ahead. He needs to consistently perform till then but if he wants to bat only in the last three overs, things could get tough. India will definitely be looking at someone in the top 7 who can bowl and if Axar is batting at 7, the team would be a batter short,” Gambhir said on Star Sports' Match Point.
"In such a case I would not have him (Karthik) in the World Cup Squad. I would definitely have people like Rishabh Pant, and Deepak Hooda (in the team). We have got KL Rahul, we've got Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma. Once they come back, it's going to be tough for Dinesh Karthik to find a place in the playing XI. If he doesn't have a place in the playing XI, there's no point giving him a place in the squad," Gambhir further said.
In the third T20I, Karthik was sent at no.6 with over four overs remaining in the game; however, he was dismissed on 6. Team India will return to action on Friday for the fourth T20I of the series in Rajkot.
